Cause and Effect
by IAmNotSureWhatIAmDoingHelp
Summary: On a normal day, what do you do? For me, it would be wake up and go on my round, then return and do whatever for the rest of the day. Of course... this is for a normal day. Today was not a normal day. Today I woke up in Resembool, about 11 years before the start of Fullmetal Alchemist. (SI, set in the manga world of FMA)
1. Chapter 1

When you wake up, what is the first thing you do in the morning? For me, that would be groan and spend the next half hour in bed. I'd then get up, get dressed and, depending on the day or whether it was a holiday, go to school or my paper round. After that, I'd come home, turn on my PC (or Xbone) and play games while reading fanfiction/manga for the rest of the day.

Of course, this is for a normal day.

Today was not a normal day.

In fact, I'd say it's the complete opposite of a normal day, considering I woke up missing my right leg and left arm for no apparent reason.

See, last thing I remember I had four fully functioning limbs that weren't on the verge of falling off at a moments notice whilst I slept. I mean, I doubt anyone leading a civilian life does, or at least not many. However, this was apparently the case for me, though I don't particularly understand why.

Now, this was only the first sign it was not a normal day.

The second would be the fact that I was lying on something that was not my bed. My bed does not try to stab me in the back all that often. The third sign would be the fact that I was currently a girl. No, I'm not normally a girl, in fact I'm quite obviously a guy. Now, unless I managed to go to a doctors, book an operation for a sex change on _that very same day,_ _ **asleep**_ , I'm highly doubtful that I had surgery and recovered in a day.

So, taking into account all these factors, I did the only logical thing in this situation.

I shouted (I would later deny screaming) for help.

In fact, I shouted for about 10 minutes, surprisingly, and no one came in the entire time.

Rude bastards.

Obviously, someone came eventually, screamed, then ran off. I could only assume that they were going to find someone who could help, so I lay there, incapable of doing anything for the next few minutes and pondering life, as well as my probably impending mortality.

Cheery thoughts, what ho!

After a while of laying there, someone eventually came with the person who found me before. They picked me up and placed me on a stretcher, before walking to a small building and laying me down on a bed on the second floor. The person who found me was dismissed and the person who was called over called for someone else to help them. From what I can remember, they did some kind of operation on me, and then left me to rest.

And that was how my first day ended in this strange new place.

* * *

When I came to, it was to the face of a young woman with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, and soft blue eyes. I tried to sit up but she gently pushed me back, saying something I couldn't understand. I looked back at her in confusion.

"What?" I asked her, my voice hoarse, and she pulled back in surprise. She said something again and it was this time that I realised that she was speaking an entirely different language that I did not understand. In an attempt to communicate, I made the universal gesture used to ask for a pen. She nodded, before calling out for what I can only assume was someone else to get a pen. A minute later, a little girl came in, holding a pen and a pad of paper in her hands, and gave them to the woman. She said something to the girl, probably a thank you, then ushered her out of the room gently. The woman gave them to me and I smiled at her in gratitude.

'Do you understand this?' I wrote on the paper, and a spark of recognition flooded her eyes. She nodded, and I passed the paper over to her. We continued like this for the next half hour. I learnt her name was Sarah Rockbell (the name struck a chord in me, though I can't particularly remember why), and that she was a doctor. I also learnt that she had a husband called Yuriy and a daughter. Of course, since she'd told me her name, I told her mine, that now being Ashley (since I don't know whether Archie is a girl's name) and that I _was_ living with my family before I was found in the middle of the field that I woke up in before. I also told her that I couldn't remember how I got there. At that point conversation died, and she left the room to get something. Upon being left alone, I started to wander through my thoughts and subconsciously tried to figure out why her name felt familiar to me.

It was then that I realised where I was and obviously did not begin to panic silently.

I mean, it couldn't be possible.

Right?

Of course.

Now, let's all calm down and not let our concepts of reality shatter, okay? Okay.

I panicked.

"This isn't possible, nope nope nope nope nope, impossible impossible impossible! I mean, inter-dimensional travel isn't possible right? No, no it isn't… But Sarah Rockbell..? Coincidence. Pure coincidence. It's also a coincidence that she has a husband called Yuriy!" I began rambling, gripping my head tightly as if it were about to fall apart. I kind of thought it was to be honest, after all, I did continue rambling until Sarah returned and she hastened to lie me back down since at some point I had managed to sit up without noticing. As she did, I realised she was talking to me soothingly, and, although I couldn't understand what was being said, it helped for some reason.

Mental breakdown avoided. Sweet.

My second day (as far as I knew) ended that way.

* * *

The days continued pretty much the same way for the next few months as I recovered from whatever had happened. I would lie in bed, Sarah would bring me some food and drink and then we'd talk. Sometimes her husband would help and I got to talk to him occasionally too. It was about three months after I'd been found that I'd decided I'd get automail, and a week after that I had it fitted. I say a week, because they don't just have automail my size lying around the place all the time, so they had their mother(-in-law) make some for me.

In all honesty, the waiting was boring, and I can tell you that I wanted to smash my head against the wall a few times just to alleviate some of it.

The surgery was painful.

The installation of my arm and leg, it was painful.

Why is everything painful.

I actually asked that aloud once (I'd gotten a brief understanding of the language over the months), and the woman who attached my arm actually laughed at it. Rude. I sent them my best offended look but they laughed again.

It was only after the process that I was actually allowed to move about, and even then I stumbled quite a bit since I wasn't used to the metal limbs. Assistance was given of course, that being (assumed) Pinako keeping me steady and guiding me over to the sofa on the other side of the room. I was eased down until I was sitting, then I could finally relax.

"Thanks" I said to her, and she gave me a smile before leaving the room. I was left there to my thoughts for the next half hour until the young girl (who I assumed to be Winry) returned from playing with her friends (most likely Ed and Al). We talked for a bit, she took a look at my automail out of curiosity, and then she went to bed since it was late for her.

After a while of doing nothing, I fell asleep on the sofa.

Then was promptly woken up by Pinako as she prodded me awake. She was holding a bowl before me, filled with some kind of stew. I thanked her, taking the bowl from her, and began eating. Of course, since I wasn't used to my new arm, the bowl began to slip and almost poured all over me. Thankfully, she caught the bowl before it could fly from my grip, and decided to hold it for me instead. I muttered another thanks, this time more awkward than the last, and resumed eating.

It was then that I decided to ask her.

"So… I heard that there's an alchemist in the area? Do you think I could… well, that I could meet him?" I asked apprehensively, lowering my spoon back into the bowl. She seemed suspicious of how I got wind of it, before seemingly shrugging it off and nodding.

"He lives just down the road from here, he's a good friend of mine, in fact" she responded, "If you wish, I could show you the way tomorrow." I thanked her again, and resumed eating, allowing a comfortable silence to fall between us. "You don't have to sleep on the sofa, you know?" she told me, but I waved her off, saying I didn't want to take up any more space than I had. She rolled her eyes, before walking off to go to sleep.

I couldn't sleep after that, my artificial limbs had begun to ache after all. So, once I thought everyone was asleep, I decided to take a walk outside to have my very first look at the place.

It was quite relaxing to say the least. The rolling hills around Resembool were a nice touch that reminded me a bit of home, and it was quiet, something I could rarely get at home what with the screams of the neighbours' kids, and the heckling of the twats from down the road. All in all, it seemed like a nice, quiet place to live.

"So, I'm in FMA, huh…" I muttered to myself in English. What with the fact that I'd been cooped up in a bed the entire time and hadn't really had the chance to leave the house, the fact hadn't really sunk in until this point. "I guess that's alright…" I heard the door open behind me and turned to see who'd followed me out. To my surprise it was Winry. "Oh, hello" I smiled at her. She gave me a curious look, tilting her head to the side in the typical anime fashion.

"Why are you crying?" she asked me, innocently. Surprised, my eyes widened, and I put a hand up to my face to check and, to my surprise, I had indeed been crying. I wiped my face with the sleeve of my shirt and beckoned her over. She complied, and sat down next to me.

"I guess it's finally sunk in that I am a very long way from home" I stated, looking back over the landscape. It was a while before I did anything else, and before I noticed it, Winry had fallen asleep with her head in my lap. A light chuckle escaped me, before I decided to take her back to her room. Gently, I lifted her head off my lap, and slid out from underneath her, then slipped my right arm beneath her legs, and my left around her back. I stood up slowly, and then walked back to her room, placing her on the bed and pulling her sheet over her. It was then that I realised that I was quite tired myself. I got half way to the door, before deciding I couldn't be bothered and fell asleep on the floor.

* * *

"So, you're the one who enquired about me?" Hohenheim asked me, his tone calm. I nodded meekly, failing to meet his eyes since I knew his greatest secret. He apparently misunderstood this for me being shy, and adopted a more friendly tone, "May I ask why?" he questioned gently. Realising that he wouldn't take off that tone if I didn't respond, I decided to be blunt. Intake of breath…

"CanyouteachmeAlchemy?" I blurted, jumbling my Amestrian words with English and confusing both Pinako and Hohenheim greatly.

So, let's go back a few steps so I can explain this properly.

Right, so I asked Pinako whether I could meet Hohenheim though she didn't know that I knew his name and she agreed saying I could meet him tomorrow. I then fell asleep in Winry's room and woke up the next day to a grinning Pinako and a smiling parently Sarah & Yuriy Rockbell. When I looked around I realised why since I was in Winry's room. I hastily explained why, and they accepted it, saying that they understood, which I doubt they did considering the shit-eating grin Pinako bore. After that Pinako reminded me of my plans and we headed down to the Elrics' house where I found Hohenheim outside the house, fixing the swing that hung from their tree. Oh, and Winry came with us too, to play with Ed and Al.

And that is pretty much a brief summary of what happened.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked, confused at my jumbled language. I blushed a bright red in embarrassment and repeated what I said, this time slower and purely in Amestrian. To my surprise, he seemed quite taken aback that someone would ask him to be his apprentice, and pulled back to think. "Let me have some tea to think it over, do come on in" he said to us, gesturing to the door. Taking his invitation, I followed him in.

* * *

 **Ok, so I'm ending it here, since 1. I'm a lazy git. And 2. I don't know what else to write so suck it.**

 **But anyway, welcome to my new story. Since I am rather doubtful of my capabilities at using characters that already exist (I feel like I'd accidentally make them 15 characters throughout the entirety of the story because I forgot their personality) it is indeed a self insert.**

 **Now, let me explain certain parts of this chapter.**

 **1\. I don't have my memories because that in and of itself is a plot device.**

 **2\. This is indeed before canon, so there may be a few time skips (next chapter will be 3 years ahead of the end of this one) before the start of the actual story.**

 **3\. I am a girl because Earth's truth is a little bitch.**

 **Ok, so TL;DR, new story, I am MC. And I am a girl missing limbs and memories (in this anyway).**

 **I hope you enjoyed this (first attempt at a) FMA fanfiction.**

 **-IANSWIADH-**

 **P.S. This will be following the Manga once it gets to that point. So no Dante.**


	2. Chapter 2

Before I knew it, 3 years had passed and the year was 1906.

In those three years I had been turned down as Hohenheim's apprentice (for obvious reasons to anyone _aside_ from the characters of FMA), become Sarah and Yuriy's assistant (fetching medical tools and the like), met Ed and Al, become Winry's sort-of-but-not-officially-adopted-I-guess older sister, learnt Amestrian to a point where I wasn't stumbling over my words like an incompetent fool, and decided that I wanted my hair long. Though, you probably don't care about the last fact.

Ok, brief summary of the past 3 years done.

Now, to the present.

At the current point in time, I was reading up on one of the alchemical books that Hohenheim had allowed me to borrow before he left to do the thing he did in the book/series. Since he'd left, I had full access to his materials and often found myself talking about alchemy with both Ed and Al. I knew that in the series they were considered geniuses, but it really hit home how clever these kids were, considering that when I was at their age I was playing Club Penguin because everyone else was playing it (bleh, dark days). At the moment however, I was alone. Ed, Al and Winry were at school (since they were still going at this point (heh)), Trisha was hanging out the washing to dry and Pinako, Sarah and Yuriy were at their house, doing whatever it was they were doing.

After a good 6 hours of studying (and practising) alchemical theory, I decided I should head back to the Rockbells' home. On the way back, I sent a few greetings to the occasional resident of Resembool, since they'd come to recognise me in the same way they'd recognise anyone else from the town, and revelled in the calm atmosphere. That is, until I arrived at my accommodation to find a couple of soldiers talking to Sarah and Yuriy.

"What's going on?" I asked them from the doorway, concerned. The group turned to look at me before Yuriy came to talk to me.

"Sarah and I are going to help in Ishval, Ashley. You don't have to worry though, we'll be back soon" he explained calmly. Looking down, I thought for a moment. Something about this was bugging me…

 _Damnit,_ I thought, _Why did I have to get here years before canon…_ _It's making me forget things..._ _What was it..? What happen_ _ed..?_ _SCAR!_ At the sudden epiphany, I made up my mind and turned back to them. "I'm coming too" I announced, determination burning through me to the very core. I would save them. I would get them back to Winry. At my proclamation, both the soldiers and Rockbells looked to each other in surprise. "Well… I am your assistant after all…" I muttered, crossing my arms in a sign that I wouldn't budge.

The room went quiet for a bit, as the soldiers and doctors seemed to have a silent conversation about whether or not I could go before Sarah broke it.

"Well, I'm sure there's room for one more, right?" She asked. The soldiers, relenting, gave an uncomfortable sigh of defeat before gesturing for someone to show them where the phone is. I obliged, leading them over to the phone we had in the living room. One of them picked up the phone, called what I assume to be eastern HQ, and began talking while the other began scrutinizing me. After a few minutes of conversation between the soldier on the phone and the person he was calling, he placed the phone down.

"She has permission to go, however she must stay with you at all times" he informed us, and a small smile crept itself onto my face. I was going with them, and was glued to them. Their chances of survival just sky-rocketed. "Get your… assistant ready. We leave in a few hours."

I decided to only pack the essentials, that being a few changes of clothes and a few alchemy books to pass the time when I had nothing to do. By the point I had finished packing Winry had come home and had begun questioning what was going on and why there were soldiers in the house. No one really knew how to explain it to her, so her questions remained unanswered aside from a few mutterings of 'Don't worry, everything's fine'. When I arrived downstairs however, we all nodded, and stood to go out the door.

"Ashley?" I paused at Winry's voice, before turning to listen to her, "What's going on?" she asked, her eyes wide and fearful. In an attempt to calm her down, I stooped down and pulled her into a quick hug.

"We're going to Ishval to help people, Win. Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it" I said to her, giving her a reassuring head rub. Calmly, I stood back up and turned to face everyone else. "So, we're leaving now, right?" I asked, trying, and failing, not to sound eager. It was two steps away from Winry that I remembered what else I was going to do, and reached around my neck. There, I grabbed the chain that was there and pulled it up and over my ginger hair. Once it was free, I took a moment to look at the pendant that hung from it. The pendant was a black incarnation of the imperial banner from The Elder Scrolls series. I turned back to Winry, and placed it in her hands. "Keep a hold of it for me? I'd hate to lose it out there" I told her and received a nod in response. Chuckling, I rubbed her head once more, and began to set off with the others.

* * *

The journey to Ishval was longer than I expected, and far more boring. I mean seriously, being stuck in a train carriage with 4 silent adults is really a dull affair. Though, if there was one thing that I had to say I liked, the scenery of Amestris was pretty nice from the bits I saw. Being asleep most of the journey does make looking at the landscape rather difficult after all.

Upon arriving in Ishval however, I began to have second thoughts.

This was mainly because my face was like a mirror, I was sweating that much.

Damn heat.

No, it was not the sound of gunfire in the distance actually.

It was then that I realised that I actually was on the edge of a war zone at the moment, and any wrong movements could get me killed.

I decided to stick with Sara and Yuriy for the time being. That's what I was supposed to do anyway, so I guess it didn't really matter how close I stayed to them.

And that was how I started the 2 years that I would be spending in Ishval.

During that time, I stayed with Sara pretty much the entire time, fetching tools and helping them when some of the wounded came in. The first year I felt fine, since in the show (if I was remembering correctly) they died in 1908. It was in the second year that I became anxious. I began to check every corner, every roof for any sign of something. Many a time I cursed the amount of time that had passed since I came into this world since I was forgetting the details of major events. I'd even managed to forget what happened to Ed and Al when they tried human transmutation simply because of the fact that I had been recovering for 3 years and hadn't had any way of recapping.

It was when we had managed to set up a tent for Ishvalans that I began to silently panic. Something about it was niggling the back of my neck but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what. All I knew was 'Rockbell', 'Scar' and 'Ishval' Eventually, the silent panicking took its toll and I began to make mistakes. I'd began dropping syringes, accidentally cutting myself with scalpels, and even occasionally started speaking English instead of Amestrian like everyone else here.

Of course, both the doctors and the patients began to notice.

They confronted me about it one night.

I lay on my bed, exhausted from a day's work as gunfire continued on in the distance. It was unnerving to think that I'd become used to this, the overbearing heat, the constant sound of battle and the agonised screams as yet another wounded fighter came into our tent. Of course, it was at this point that they both decided to speak.

"Ashley?" Sara spoke quietly, interrupting my thoughts and making me jump since I hadn't realised they were there. "Are you feeling all right?"she asked. I turned to look at her with the best incredulous look I could muster.

"Well, yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" I responded, nervously and attempting to play it casual.

"It just seems that you're..." she started, turning to her husband for help. He seemed to silently say something which she agreed for she continued, "not okay." My incredulous look increased in intensity and I sighed.

"Look, I'm fine, I'm just tired is all, all right?" I lied, "I'll be fine tomorrow." Though I knew I wouldn't be, I'd probably have the same problems tomorrow, and the day after that. In fact I'd probably have the same problems until either A) they die. Or B) I save them from death. Of course, what with my memories failing me at a most crucial time, I felt my chances of even doing that slipping away.

"Are you sure?" she asked me, and I waved her off, saying that she doesn't need to worry. Something must have shown on my face however, since they didn't seem to believe me at all. Turning, they left the tent, and me, and went to their own.

I flopped down onto the bed, and let out a loud sigh. My thoughts were a jumbled, tangled mess and sleep was the only cure. However sleeping was a difficulty in and of itself since my thoughts were keeping me awake. It was then that I decided to start a journal so that I may observe any divergences to the timeline as far as I could remember. Seriously, what I could remember was scattered bits of plot and the entire reason for the story.

For the next few hours I spent my time writing in my impromptu journal, which was essentially a bunch of paper held together by string. It was morning by the time I had finished noting down the events I remembered, and I hadn't had a wink of sleep. It showed too, since my accidents became more pronounced and frequent.

After a mere hour of working, I passed out, exhausted from the lack of sleep. The next thing I knew I woke up in one of the beds a few hours later, one of the Ishvalan patients watching over me while Sara and Yuriy worked.

"Hey! You're awake!" they cheered to my surprise. "The Doctors told me to fetch them if you woke up since they got a couple of new patients while you were asleep." And before I could get a word in, they ran off to find the Rockbells.

About a minute later, they returned with Sara in tow. By this point I'd sat up and gained my bearings. She gave me a basic run-down of what I need to do now, and let me get back to work. We had no time to rest at the moment, since something had happened in the area and many people had been injured. Apparently, one man was brought in by his brother who was missing his right arm, they'd told him to allow them to help him, but he insisted they help his brother and died before they could do anything. For the next half hour we did everything we could for him, though that mainly consisted of bandaging his head, and relocating his shoulder. At that point Sara told me to keep an eye on him, and to tell her when he woke up.

I didn't even realise who it was.

It happened before I realised what was going on.

I began hearing slight groans from beside me as the man started to wake up, obviously, at that point I called for Sara to come over. She began speaking to him, though he didn't seem to hear her, he seemed to be happy to see his own arm for the most part. His tattooed arm… and that was when it clicked. For both him and for me.

He began screaming, and I started to panic.

He grabbed the dagger from the table beside him and lunged for Sara, and I threw myself at him in an attempt to stop him.

He threw me off, I hit the wall.

Then there was blood.

So much blood.

"Sara…" I muttered, shuffling over to them, "Yuriy…"

The man left the tent, delirious and unintelligible.

I collapsed to me knees next to their limp bodies.

"Wake up…" I shuddered, "Come on, wake up… You promised Winry… You promised!" It was then that the tears began to fall, I wept over their corpses, screaming for them to wake up.

* * *

 **What a cheery note to end it on, amirite? The Rockbells are dead, and going into denial. Yay! Happiness!**

 **But yeah, I was kinda on the fence on whether to save them or not. I decided against it since this way I'll have a reason to do certain things I have planned for this story and it should make more sense than if they didn't die. It's kind of like Roy's hunt for Hughes' killer. But with a different person.**

 **In other news, I've finally got all 27 volumes of the manga. So, if I am to finish the story, I cannot use this as an excuse for delays.**

 **Maybe I should have left it off for a while…**

 **But anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and have a great evening! Or morning since it's gone midnight right now…**

 **-IANSWIADH-**

 **P.S. Oh, and before I forget, school started back up for me a couple of days ago, so I won't be updating too frequently.**


End file.
